The symbolic Doomsday Clock has crept closer to midnight than ever before, indicating that humanity is perilously close to catastrophe.
The clock, set to 90 seconds before midnight, indicates how near our world is to extinction due to human activity. According to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BAS), the clock shifted significantly due to Ukraine's conflict.
What is Doomsday Clock?
The concept of warning humankind of the dangers of nuclear war emerged in 1947. Based on the scientists' assessment of existential risks at a given time, the hands of the clock are pushed closer to or further from midnight. Midnight represents the theoretical moment of extinction, as per BBC.
The selection is determined by the BAS scientific and security board, which consists of thirteen Nobel Prize winners. Due to the situation in Ukraine, the announcement was made accessible in Ukrainian, Russian, and English this year. According to the board, the conflict has prompted significant issues about how states engage and an apparent decline in international behavior.
"Russia's thinly disguised threats to deploy nuclear weapons are a reminder to the international community that escalation of the conflict - whether by accident, design, or mistake - is a dreadful danger," the report stated.
Climate change, biological hazards, and disruptive technologies are also highlighted this year as threats. Countries relying on Russian oil and gas have increasingly sought other natural gas supplies. And while the globe continues to feel the effects of COVID-19, the board stated that world leaders would need to continue identifying and addressing biological threats, regardless of their natural, accidental, or deliberate origin.
The board stated that a pandemic is no longer a once-in-a-lifetime threat. In 2020, the clock hands were shifted 100 seconds closer to midnight. In 2021 and 2022, the hands of the clock remained in the same position. The clock hands were at their furthest distance following the end of the Cold War, 17 minutes before midnight, as per TODAY.
Rachel Bronson, the chief executive officer of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, stated that even though people caused these problems, the board thinks humans can lessen the dangers via global involvement. Bronson stated that the clock's movement from 90 seconds to midnight signifies the urgency of the world's crisis, which may have far-reaching and long-lasting ramifications.
According to the Bulletin's statement, the clock advanced primarily, but not completely, because of the nuclear hazards posed by the war in Ukraine.
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Russia-Ukraine War
Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the stresses it placed on European energy have led to an increase in the usage of coal and oil that produce greenhouse gases.
Sivan Kartha, a senior scientist at the Stockholm Environmental Institute and a member of the Bulletin's Science and Security Board, stated that there has been a great development in innovation surrounding renewable energy and that the upcoming generation is highly invested in the subject.
Decades after decade, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has announced a new Doomsday Clock setting, indicating how near or distant its experts feel mankind is from the precipice. According to the organization, the clock "illustrates how near we are to destroying our civilization with deadly technology of our invention."
At 90 seconds till midnight, the Doomsday Clock has never been closer to midnight. This is the first time it has changed since it was set to 100 seconds before midnight in 2020. Per USA Today, more than seventy-five years ago, the clock began to tick seven minutes before midnight.
At 17 minutes to midnight in 1991, the clock was the farthest from midnight due to the conclusion of the Cold War and the signing of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union, which significantly decreased both nations' nuclear arsenals.
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